Home
by Fan Fan Girl
Summary: One-shot. Spoilers. Who is Kalas?
1. Birthplace

_Birthplace_

Right now, I'm sitting on my bed with my knees pulled all up under my chin, watching Grandfather and Uncle walk around. They keep arguing about "the sample" this and "the sample" that, and that means they're talking about _me_. When they're angry or when something's wrong, they talk like that. But whenever I've done something good, like make my bed or play nice with Fee, they call me Kalas, and I like it better then.

My name is Kalas and I'm almost eight years old. Soon I won't be able to count my age on my fingers anymore. But my Grandfather is really good at making things, so I always say that when I turn eleven he can just make me another finger.

My brother Fee is only three. He's really little, but he can say some things. I like to try teaching him funny words. He can't say his name right yet because he has a "speech development" so he says Pee instead. They get mad at me when I call him that, so I only do it at nighttime when we're alone. Grandfather and Uncle don't sleep in our room anymore because I'm big enough to take care of Fee by myself.

Fee's bed is right next to mine. He uses the same one I did when I was his age, which is a small mat with orange stains on it. He's taking a nap right now. I wonder how much longer he'll sleep because Grandfather keeps talking loudly. Uncle looks at me worriedly.

_What?_ I say and pout. _I didn't do it, whatever it is._ They sure argue a lot when experiments go wrong. And they complain about research all the time.

_Kalas, we didn't say that you did anything._ Grandfather's voice tickles my ears.

_Then why are you being so mad? I swear I didn't do anything. I am a good boy. I know I am._

_That's just fine, isn't it; it shows that you've reached maturity_. Well, I think Grandfather is smiling at me now. It's better than all the frowning, but he shouldn't be making fun of me at all. I always look after Fee. I'm a big kid now.

_We have a job for you to do, my boy. We didn't think you would be ready for it before, but now that you're a good boy—_

_Oh, I can do anything!_ I say.

_Splendid, splendid. Now, Uncle and I are going to play a game. It's a very dangerous game, so you'll have to be careful. We're going to play Make Believe, all four of us, alright?_

That's just about my favorite game of all. Sometimes I like to make believe that I'm a magician. I also like to make believe that I'm Grandfather, because then I can build anything.

If I were Grandfather, I could make another little brother for Fee and me. We could name him Iron Beetle, like the tanks in my picture book. Then Fee could sleep in my bed and Beetle would sleep on the mat. I think it would be fun to watch Beetle incubating too. I remember when Fee was in a tube, and he looked like rotten celery.

Then I think of all the things that I can do, and I tell Grandfather that I'm really good at Make Believe. I'll go along.

_That's great. Do you want to hear about this round of the game? It's going to be very difficult to pull off, so you'll need to concentrate hard for us. First, Uncle and I are going to pretend to blow up the laboratory. _

_We're pretending, do you understand? Remember the magic tricks from your new book? Just like that, except bigger. You're going to have to be careful, Kalas. Do you think you can do that?_

_Yes_, I reply.

_Right_, my Uncle says, _Just like a magic trick. But you mustn't touch it, or it will go away._

Grandfather nods and continues, _Next, we're going to go into Mintaka pretending to be travelers. We can't let anyone find us out, or our game will be finished._

_Do I get anything if we win?_

Grandfather smiles. _Why, I think we'll let you play outside all you want._

Oustide? I can't believe it! Yipee! Outside! Thank you thank you thank you! I jump up off my bed and stick to Grandfather's leg like a big old magnet. I'm so happy to have him. He's probably the nicest Grandfather in the world.

And that's because only the old people get to play in the halls. I've seen Giacomo stomping around out there.

By the way, Giacomo is my other brother. Grandfather says that he made Giacomo before he made me. He's big and tough and he snarls. I've seen dogs before and Giacomo acts like them. I bet that he remembers when I was in the tube just like Fee, but I don't think he likes me now. Maybe I squirted in his eye when I was little. He always calls me "the sample."

Giacomo gets to go outside because he's bigger than me. But after we win I can go play with him! Maybe he'll stop being such a dummy then.

Now Grandfather is telling me about the rest of the plan. Sounds good to me. I'm going to help Fee out. He says that we'll start playing right away, there isn't time, we have to go, so I get up and go over to wake up Fee. But he looks really tired so I just pick him up. I think they were doing tests on him yesterday. Uncle said something about running some examinations on me tomorrow.

I don't really want to. Examinations always hurt. Uncle has to poke me all over and stick his metal instrument into my nose and stuff.

Right now, I'm just excited about the magic show that Grandfather is setting up. Uncle wants to look more like travelers, in case anyone figures out we're playing a game, so he's getting coats for all of us. Fee is curled up against my chest and kind of drooling. I pat him on the head and say "Pee" affectionately. He's a funny baby.

Uncle is getting a lot of things together so that it looks like we're going on a trip. He picks up a stack of paper and asks Grandfather, _Should we bring Kalas and Fee's blueprints?_

I kind of wonder why they would do that. In case you didn't know, Grandfather and Uncle made me from a pile of Magnus. They wrote an instruction book on it after they finished. Just for if they wanted to make more kids like me and Fee. I don't know why they would bring their plans along. Probably because they want to show off in their traveler disguise.

Anyway, Grandfather shakes his head "no" and puts the papers next to the magic explosives. It looks dangerous, but it will be a fun trick I think.

This is an exciting game... I have butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I can't wait.

_Kalas, are you ready?_

_Sure am_, I say.

_Remember to be careful_, my Grandfather says. _I don't want you to get hurt accidentally. Once you hear me give the word, run as fast as you can down the hall._

I nod my head. I don't get many chances to run because they don't let us outside much but I'm good at jumping on one foot. Uncle leaves the room because he's going ahead of me, and I wait in the doorway for Grandfather to give the signal. Fee is still sleeping on my shoulder and I'm pretty sure my shirt is getting wet. Fee is sort of heavy but I can run until we get out of the building.

Grandfather takes out a lighter and clicks it. The thread on the magic explosives catches on fire and Grandfather runs to the doorway with me. He looks out-of-breath. _We'll only watch a little bit of it, my boy, and then we have to go finish the game!_

_Okay. Is it going to turn green like in the book?_

_It'll be red, and much, much bigger. We put a lot of magic powder out there. Maybe too much_, he mutters. Grandfather takes a hold of my shoulders and pulls me away from the door. _You should move back so you don't get hurt. We wouldn't want that, now._

_But I get to see it, right? I want to be a magician someday._

_Yes, but only a little... Uncle is waiting, after all._ He's moving backwards again. We're getting even further from the doorway. Grandfather begins to look worried. But I want to see the explosion, so I lean forward. _Here it comes, Kalas... Now, why don't you let me hold on to Fee? Keep away from the door!_

I give him Fee, who wiggles his arms and legs like a crab in his sleep. The explosives are about to go off. Then it lights.

It starts in a few bursts. I laugh at all the sparking it does. Then it blows up really fast and takes up the whole room. Soon I can't see the inside because it's so red. The walls in the room bulge out and there's a burst of heat that comes at me and Grandfather. I hold my arms up to shield myself but it's like someone's slamming me and throwing a wall at my face.

_Kalas_, _run!_


	2. Amnesia

_Amnesia_

_Kalas._

Memory zapped me.

_Wake up, boy._

_Do you remember me now?_

"It's Grandfather. Your Grandfather. Please."

Huh...?

My brain pulsed in my head like a bird squeezing against its own eggshell. It felt like I had been hit. I had a feeling that I was all wrong up inside.

Did I hurt myself?

A thought occurred to me. Who is I?

Kalas.

My eyelids lifted; an old man hovered in my face. Light burned in the background. "Huh," I moaned again, writhing in the bed I was in. "Where am I?"

"You're in Mira now. We won the game — can you believe it? We won!"

"What game?" I asked in a daze.

"Ah, that's right. So you don't remember. I believed that if you were to only rest, then you would... Well. No matter. We were playing a game, son."

_Son? Game? What?_

I struggled to sit up, but my head hurt too much. I fell back as dead weight. The old man smiled at me, his whiskers bristling. I hate to say that I was scared. I didn't want to look at the old man anymore, and I felt like crying, but didn't want to cry, so I told myself I wouldn't and I didn't.

"Who are you?" I managed finally.

"I'm..." Pause. "...Your new friend. I found you. You were playing a game. You hit your head so you might not remember me, but I found you. Do you understand?"

I don't remember. Where are my folks? I don't remember anything. My... my... I strained in mental darkness, but I could only remember one thing. Tears stood on my cheeks even though I told myself there were none.

"I don't understand. What's going on? Where am I?"

"You're in our house, in Mira. You're my adopted grandson. You have a little brother, you know. Named... Cale. We were playing Make Believe and you accidentally hit your head."

_Make Believe?_

"Oh..." I said.

I thought about that for awhile, and then asked, "Was I pretending to be lost?"

"You were lost, yes... But you've been found. My boy, do you remember anything about before?"

Kalas.

"Kalas," I said timidly.

I wasn't used to strange people. He was a strange person, and I didn't want him near me; I wasn't used to strange people and I wanted my, my family, whoever, anyone familiar. _Help me_, I choked, and bit my tongue.

"It's okay," he said. "I'm here. And please listen to me... You should forget that name. Kalas. Do you know what your true name is?"

I guessed.

_Kalas._

"No..."

No no no. It had to be!

"Your name is... Blue. It's the name I gave you when I found you with Cale; truly, you are my grandson, I have named you so."

Kalas is the only thing I remember, though. _It's me. Me! Kalas!_

The old man's wrinkles suddenly looked much, much deeper. His eyebrows drew down together, and he eased away from the bed. "Perhaps you would like to sleep some more, Blue. It will clear your mind."

_But... I..._

"Yes?"

_What about my family? Won't they come looking for me? _

"Boy... you have no parents."

Then...

_I... I'm scared..._

The old man looked hurt. My dear boy, I'm sorry, his eyes said. But he didn't. And then he turned around and departed from the room. I sat staring after him feeling like I had been shot in the forehead by a tranquilizer dart. Why me. Who's me. Me. I.

A baby sob came out of me. Don't abandon me! What is going on here? I wanted to be something familiar but a darkish feeling came to life in me and I panicked, I started acting on my own, acting like I didn't want to.

My legs were on fire beneath the blankets, and my face was soaked with tears. Everything was numb and I found myself beating my pillow and biting its corners. I started to cry hard and I hated me and I wiped my tears into the sheets. Who? I screamed, snot dribbling from my nose. Who? Who!? I sucked it back in fiercely, and sat shuddering for several minutes.

Then I put my head back on to the pillow and pretended as hard as I could that I hadn't cried. It was tough to think that, though, because my eyes were like hot marbles in my head. I stared at the ceiling, believing that a spinning vortex thing would open up and I would go floating in back to wherever I was supposed to be.

It didn't. So I closed my eyes. I figured that if I fell asleep I would wake up back in... back...

And I couldn't remember so long, tick-tocking minutes passed slowly and definitely not quickly. I figured that I was in a nightmare and since you can't sleep in your dreams, I wouldn't sleep until I woke up.

Never ever thought that I would, but I fell asleep anyway. I had a dream about something, but I couldn't remember what. Then I awoke.

The same ceiling. The same pillow, with all the snot dried on it. The same door. The same me.

I got out of bed and walked around the room. It was tiny. I found a little mirror on the wall by the door and looked into it.

_Blue_, I thought.

He calls me Blue because of my hair.

_But my name is Kalas_, I said out loud.

Is it really?

I shook my head and left the little room. The hallway was empty and I walked through it feeling awkward. It felt like I was walking backwards with my clothes inside-out. But I wasn't; I just felt funny. Soon I got to a large room with a table in it. A fire flickered in the fireplace across the room. I stared. The man and a kid were sitting at the table. The man cleared his throat.

_Good morning_, _Blue._

"I'm called Kalas," I said. "Not Blue."

"But you've had amnesia, so you don't quite understand. Kalas is not your name..."

"That's the only thing I remember, though."

"Are you sure that it's not just someone else's name? Maybe you're confused."

Am I confused?

I thought for a moment. Was it possible for me to have messed up? After all, the old man was an adult. I couldn't remember any time when an adult didn't tell the truth. I couldn't remember...

Blue...

I guess... that name would—

—_KALAS!_

Before I knew it, the kid had crossed the length of the room and tackled me.

"Brudder! Good morning! Happy today for you!"

I peeled him off of me and frowned at him. He was pale with white hair and minty eyes. He panted, jumped, and laughed.

"Pee," I said instinctively.

"What?" started the old man.

"I have to pee." I blushed.

The little boy laughed and laughed, but the old man showed me to the toilet as the kid trailed behind. I went inside and locked the door on them. Tears were stinging in my eyes again, as I leaned against the wall, because the kid looked so happy and the old man still wore whiskers. But I swore that I wouldn't cry anymore and took three big gulps of air.

A couple minutes later I went back outside. I saw that across the room there was food laid out on the table. My stomach churned. I wanted to throw up.

The old man motioned me to breakfast. "Come eat, Blue. You must be hungry."

I nodded sullenly and trudged to the table.

"This is Cale," the old man explained, gesturing at the happy kid banging his fists on a plate. "And you can call me Grandfather."

I sat down in my chair. I squirmed. "And what is my name again?"

"Blue." Grandfather smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, my boy. You'll get used to living here. Why, Cale already has."

"Pee pee pee," sang Cale. He looked like he was making a snowman with the rice on his plate. I wondered vaguely how I knew what a snowman was. Someone must've told me.

I was silent. Images bumped around inside my head, but I didn't know what to make of them. There was something about... about a... I became frustrated at my brain. _Stop being stupid_, I said, _and let me remember_. But the darkness wouldn't part and fuzzy little pictures still floated by.

I bit my lip and felt kind of lost. I looked at Grandfather. _Who am I?_

"Blue. You're my grandson. I will protect you, and I will always be here to love you. You may be feeling a little confused right now, but please don't be frightened. Have patience."

I couldn't eat the food that day, but I got it.

I had patience.

For the next few weeks, I had patience.

Grandfather kept me inside the house for all that time. It's not like I wanted to go outside anyway; I didn't know what would be out there, so I was fine just playing with Cale. And Grandfather usually stayed inside, too, working on some project. He made me and Cale a cuckoo clock. Cale sat and watched it for hours, captivated, but I lay next to him and thought instead.

There was something familiar about Cale, I thought, like an old sock you find wedged between your bed and the wall. You've had the matching one for a while, but got tired of looking for its mate after a few days and just went sockless. I had found Cale now, and then there was the sock in my head. ...Or maybe I should say _but_ there was a sock in my head. The sock was so fuzzy, old, and smelly that I couldn't remember Cale. It was called amnesia.

I was angry at amnesia.

I said this to Cale. I hate not knowing and it's dumb.

_Why, Kalas?_ he asked. He always called me by my real name. I don't know why.

_Because,_ I explained,_ it's stinky like you._

He looked kind of like he didn't understand, so he said "suh-tinky" and went back to watching the hands on the clock. There were still fifteen minutes before the birdie would come out again; I don't even know why he bothered. But his concentration was intense.

I was even more intense, because I never stopped waiting, and I never even blinked. Well, not never, but just for a long time. I had convinced myself that Cale and Grandfather were not real, and that I was imagining things. I believed I was crazy. I didn't tell Grandfather, but I was waiting for the dream to end. I was waiting for Kalas to come out.


	3. Fighting

_Fighting_

"Okay, I'll let you out," Grandfather said one morning.

He held the door open for us. We stood blinking in the doorway, the sun bright in our eyes, the clouds on the street rolling up to meet us. Cale tried to scoop some up, laughing, but I just stared straight ahead. Maybe I thought that somewhere out there was something familiar, but there wasn't and this hurt me. It was like I was holding on to a rope over the edge of the world and the last string in the rope had just snapped. I fell down and down and down and heard myself calling.

I pulled my gaze away from the row of houses running up and down the street to see Cale totter outside. I looked up at Grandfather.

"Go on, Blue. But be careful and don't go too far. I'll be watching from here, you know. Why don't you hold Cale's hand, so you don't get hurt? We wouldn't want that now. Go on." He patted me on the back.

I shrugged a little and felt funny with the strange wind blowing at me. I went out and took hold of Cale's hand. We wandered up and down the street, with me always glancing back at Grandfather. He was in the doorway every time. But what if he disappeared? What would we do then?

We passed a house that looked like a person's face. The eyes were blinking shutters; the mouth was a big red door; the skin was blotchy pink-red stone.

A little boy walked out of its open mouth, closing it once he reached the outside. When he saw us standing there, he stared and said, "Hey."

Cale waved. "Hi nice to meet - you!"

My grip tightened on my brother's tiny hand. I wanted to look back just to check if Grandfather was still there, to make sure that there was a way out, but I didn't want to show my fear to the boy. I said woodenly, "Hey."

The boy swaggered. "What, you new here or something?"

"I live across the street."

"Then how come I never seen you before?"

"I help my grandfather in the shop."

"'Grandfather?' You mean your gramps? You sound like a snig. Who do you think you are?"

I didn't know what a snig was. I didn't even know what a gramps was. The boy sneered threateningly — I don't know why, I didn't do anything. Something told me I shouldn't make him mad, so I kept quiet.

"Bunnycat gotcha tongue? Huh?"

"I... Uh..."

The boy laughed. "Well, whatever. What's your names, anyway?"

"I'm Kalas," I said quickly.

Cale gurgled beside me. "Pfff... ppp. Pf. Pee. Pee. Fee. Feee!"

The boy frowned. "What?"

"Fee," I translated for him. "Kalas and Fee."

"Freaky names," the boy said. "So you know, I'm Otto. I have a little brother called Dino." He gave Fee a weird look. "Dino is six."

"Fee is three."

"Well, I'm the biggest kid in this neighborhood. Watch it, huh?"

I gulped. The kid grimaced at me again and set off down the street. Fee waved bye-bye while I trembled. I felt scared, weak. With a quick glance backwards, I realized that Grandfather wasn't in the doorway anymore. "Look, Fee," I said.

Cale looked. "Hide and Seek?" he asked.

I shook my head. The image of Otto sneering stayed in my mind. "Let's go find him." We crossed the street — it was wide like a river, I felt like an ant swimming across it — and got to our house. We got inside, and there was Grandfather sitting at the table working on some project. I felt an explosion of relief. And one of shame. Why was I so scared?

Then Grandfather seemed to notice us. "Oh, back already? How was it? Did you like Balancoire?"

Cale answered for me. "Biiiiig."

"I suppose it must have seemed that way, after being cooped up in this little house for so long. Did you find anything interesting?"

"Otto. He is my new friend." Cale nodded to himself. "New friend."

"How about you, Blue?"

"Kalas," I corrected timidly. "We met a boy called Otto. He has a little brother."

Grandfather gave me a sharp look, but went on, "Oh?"

"Yeah. He's younger than me." I stopped. "Hey, Grandfather, what's a snig?"

He frowned. "Why, a snig is a small eel."

"Do eels live in the river?"

"I've heard that they live in a place called the Celestial River... but I can't say that I've ever seen one myself."

"Oh." I fell silent. I guess Grandfather didn't know that he was looking at a snig.

That little boy, Otto, bothered me for a really long time.

It felt like forever.

Whenever I met him, I wished that the ground would come apart and a spinning hole would open up, so that I could jump through. Then I'd end up some place else and be a different me. I didn't like the me-of-right-now, and on top of that I had an endless ache in my head. Like there was an angry creature trying to escape from it, but it couldn't so it always took up clubs and beat me around the brain. I fell asleep each night with bruises on my mind.

Many nights like that passed. Soon the shadows that once seemed so foreign and scary before were fixed into in my mind. I woke up in the morning and when I stared into the mirror, I was more used to the sad face. I got used to my clothes and my shoes and Fee — I started calling him Fee because that's what he called himself, just like I hung onto Kalas — and even Grandfather. I even started understanding myself.

It wasn't very much fun though. Understanding me. For one thing, I was always scared. If a strange bird flew past my window in the night, my eyes stayed glued to my bedroom walls for hours. I watched for other shadows. I was terrified; I couldn't sleep, so I told Grandfather one day that birds were ugly things. He made me a mechanical bird then. I played with it in the doorway until I grew used to its shiny black wings.

And because of that, soon I trusted Grandfather. He was often distant, caught up in the nuts and bolts of some machine, but he always looked after me and Fee. He was never too busy for us. Whenever I got anxious, he cheered me up. Usually with some toy, like the mechanical black bird, but even that was comforting.

My fear always chewed at me, though, no matter how many toys I got. It kept gnawing and gnawing and I always felt like I was on the edge of a cliff by my fingertips and my fingers would come off at any second and down I would fall. Sometimes I wondered what was at the bottom of the cliff. Would I stand up, shake myself, and find another world?

For the time being, I had to deal with Balancoire. When looking outside one day, I ran into Otto and Dino and Primo and Ventura. And there were girls, too. They all ran together, like a pack of dogs, issuing orders to the other kids of the town. Fee and I stayed inside so they just jeered at us. But that day, all of them were standing around me and Grandfather was on the other side of town hammering. I eyed them warily.

Otto yelled in my face. "Just who are you, anyway? Who, huh? Sissy-boy!"

I squeezed my eyes shut and felt my face heat up. I clenched my fists at my side.

"C'mon, c'mon! Let's see what you're made of! I wanna see Kalas crawl! Slither slither! C'mon now!"

How can I get out of this, I thought then.

I just want to go home.

Let me go home, please.

Otto pushed me. "Hey, Kalas. You don't got respect. Fight me, show you're serious. Otherwise I want pancakes every morning on my doorstep, huh!"

Lemme go, I thought.

"Let him go," Dino whined from the sidelines. "He didn't do anything."

Yeah! I never did anything, I swear.

"But he's gotta earn him some respect. He can't just _have_ it." Otto pushed my shoulder. "Huh!"

I began to understand that he wouldn't leave me alone until he got a fight from me. His little brother Dino wanted no violence, but he of course was too weak to stand up to his brother, and all the other kids worshipped Otto's tough attitude. I was trapped.

Almost in resignation, I lifted my fists. I really didn't want to fight. It wasn't my idea of a good time. My idea of a good time was sitting by a warm fire flipping through Grandfather's sketches. Yeah.

Otto threw a punch at me.

It was a joke. He wasn't serious yet. The punch caught my jaw but didn't hurt. I stumbled back, sort of shaken. I didn't want to get hurt, I wanted to go home.

— And another punch landed on my cheekbone. It hurt more this time — I lashed out in defense. Otto dodged easily. "Is that all you got?"

The kids were cheering but I wasn't about to cry. I swallowed my pain and swung again. The blow was weak but Otto stumbled. I sucked it up and charged to ram him down but he caught my shoulders and, swinging me to steady himself, he threw me to the ground. I fell back on the bone of my forearms. When I was down, Otto kicked me, right there in the ribs.

_Stop_, I grunted.

"Had enough?"

My eyes burned. I curled up and jammed my hands to my face. Please...

"What, you gonna cry? You scared, Kalas?"

No... no... I was tired of being scared... I was tired of not knowing. I didn't want to be scared. I gently put my palms on the ground to push myself up. Otto kicked them out from under me and I fell back down. Grimacing, I took a breath and tried again.

This time he was merciful and let me climb all the way up. I swayed in front of him. My body hurt. The others hooted around us. Damn you, I thought.

"Say we step it up a notch?" Otto asked, bouncing confidently on his feet. Suddenly, he stopped and jerked as two white wings grew out of his back. He flapped twice, laughed, and waited for me.

I hesitated, and not because I was scared. I knew I had wings of the heart, but I couldn't remember ever using them. Everyone had them, I thought.

There was no other choice... I knitted my brow and focused on the tender part of my shoulder blades. They began to itch and I willed my wings to come out. I twisted — it was very uncomfortable — and what felt like a bone began to poke inside my back. Suddenly light spurted from me and my wings sprouted. I flapped and nearly fell over. Only my right wing seemed to be working...

Then I heard the screams. Primo, Ventura, and the girls shrieked and pointed at me. A sense of fear grew in me. What? What is it?

"Only one wing!" they cried. "One wing!"

I whirled around to see, and immediately realized that I looked like a fluffpup chasing his own tail. I stopped and looked over my left shoulder. The fear exploded. Only one wing. One wing. How could this be?

Otto looked unfazed. "Who cares?" he said. "Fight me."

How could I fight with them staring at me? At my disgrace? They roared — I found it hard to concentrate.

Where is my other wing? I thought frantically. Does it have to do with my lost memories? Does this mean something?

I froze in dumbfounded wonder. Otto sneered at me from across the street, but then he was in front of me taking advantage of my confusion, landing a powerful kick in my gut. With a cough I flew back; as I fell my one wing beat instinctively, not helping to soften the blow but spinning me instead with a crazy, one-sided force so that I fell on my face. I could feel my cheek swell.

My heart broke.

Otto was cracking his knuckles when I got up. I was careful not to touch the scratches on my face or the bruise on my side.

I wouldn't show him my fear any longer...

I had fallen the lowest that I possibly could — amnesia, getting bullied, and now disfigurement — and I didn't think I could take it anymore...

The streams of disappointment and self-consciousness, always flowing in my head, raged and I let loose the dammed rivers and took up my fists and decided I wouldn't die because of myself, not today.

I heaved a breath and began to walk and then to run, my breath was like cyclones in my ears, louder than even the screaming voices from the sidelines. I prepared myself, delaying long enough that I could see the white of Otto's eyes. He got ready, I could see that he intended to hit me, I laughed at him.

I came face-to-face with my enemy. I straightened my arms and gripped my hands together; I ran and feinted right and then pivoted left on one foot, driving my one wing with all my might against the air, swinging myself sharply round to Otto's rear. I felt a sense of elation. I used the momentum to drive my locked fists into his spine.

He collapsed suddenly. I stumbled some, tripping over his legs, but when I came to a full stop I looked down.

He turned his eyes up to me. He mumbled something.

I could barely hear his words through the foggy feeling in my head, not to mention the wild cries from the sidelines, so I leaned closer, straining my ears—

"...You _won_...?"


End file.
